This has been another great year for music, but while I was compiling this list I found few truly wonderful albums, just a whole lot of very good ones. So after my top 3, I was really struggling to differentiate one album from another. I'm not sure if that's a sign of weakness or strength, but I think an EP would be hard-pressed in previous years to make the top 5, as happened this year, so it's probably a bit of a down year for great albums, which is hopefully not the start of a trend. My song list (coming soon) seems just as strong, or stronger, than in previous years, so perhaps this is the result of my listening habits becoming more iPod/singles based than album-based. Of course, at the top of the list was one of the best albums I've ever heard, so it's not like there wasn't true greatness out there, it was just a little harder to find.
1. Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer
From the moment this album was released there was no doubt that it was going to be my album of the year. What was surprising is that it ended up in my top 5 of the decade, but the album is really that good. Spencer's latest effort is more immediately accessible than Random Spirit Lover (my favorite album of the decade) and while it seems more a collection of near-perfect songs than a true cohesive album at first glance, there are so many themes running through the collection that it does work perfectly on full listens as well. But I've said a million words about this album already and there's not much more to say. Except thank you, Spencer, for making my year.
2. Swan Lake - Enemy Mine
Huh. Spencer again? What a surprise. Actually this album is more heavily influenced by his supergroup bandmates Carey Mercer and Dan Bejar than by Spencer's contributions, which makes it all the more amazing how great this album turned out to be, and how cohesive the triumvirate's efforts were. Mercer really shines -- and while I like Frog Eyes, they're nothing compared to Sunset Rubdown or Destroyer, and this is to me Mercer's best efforts as an artist. "Warlock Pscyhologist" is a wonderful song that culminates the album, just a perfect closer from Mercer after some wonderful gems by Spencer ("Settle on Your Skin", "A Hand at Dusk") and Bejar ("Heartswarm", "Daniel's Song") and Mercer himself ("Spanish Gold"). I'm still not sure which version of "Paper Lace" is better -- on this album or on Dragonslayer, and as I write this, each one has been played by me 77 times this year, which would make it 150+ plays for a track that isn't in the top 5 best tracks on either album. So that's fairly impressive work all around. Great, great album.
3. Built to Spill - There is No Enemy
This album was a bit of a "grower" for me. I think it took several listens before I really learned of the depth of beauty of this comeback for the venerable '90s indie rockers, who truly had a spectacular return to form here. The first 7 tracks on the album are nearly perfect and could fit right in with their Perfect From Now On / Keep it Like a Secret late '90s genius work. The opening riff in "Aisle 13" even sounds a little like something from There's Nothing Wrong with Love, which is obviously a much different album than the rest of BTS's catalog. But while the closing three tracks aren't quite as good, there's enough beauty on this album to garner this high ranking, and in fact, this is the last of the truly "great" albums of 2009. Which is pretty shocking to me. If you'd asked me before the year what great albums I was looking forward to, Sunset Rubdown and Swan Lake would have definitely made the list, but Built to Spill? Probably unlikely. It's been a decade since Keep it Like a Secret for crying out loud. But this album makes it worth the wait.
4. Balmorhea - All is Wild, All is Silent
Balmorhea (pronounced "Bal-moor-ay" according to Wikipedia) is a band out of Austin, Texas, and this album is their third full-length. It's a post-rock album, one of many on my list this year, but this one, from a band I'd never heard before, came out at the top. Opener "Settler" is just a brilliant track, starting with booming piano and strings and then fading and starting again with massive guitars and rhythmic handclaps and a soaring ensemble of emphatic music. And that's just the first song. Third track "Harm and Boon" is even better, an 8+ minute explosion of slow and fast and bombastic heights rarely reached by any song this year. But the album, as a whole, is imminently listenable on repeat, just a wonderful experience and very worthy of this high slot on my year-end countdown, even if I'd never heard of them a year ago.
5. Superchunk - Leaves in the Gutter (EP)
Superchunk's last full album came out in 2001 and the band's members moved on to adult responsibilities this decade rather than rocking the indie sound like they'd done since 1989. But Mac kept playing music (as Portastatic) and he and Laura kept running Merge Records (which became huge in the decade thanks to The Arcade Fire) so when 2009 came around -- the 20th anniversary of both the band and the label -- the Chunk had enough songs recorded to release this 5-track EP and a 3-track 7" single later in the year. And the songs were just as great as ever. This EP consists of merely four songs + an acoustic version of "Learned to Surf" but each of the four songs is absolutely brilliant, very much a mid-career type classic for the band, even at the end of a decade in which they stopped recording together. They never called it quits officially, though, and have continued to play shows (mostly charity benefits) throughout the past 8 years, so I'm hoping, even as it's unlikely, that there's another full-length in them that might come out in the coming years. I, for one, didn't realize how much I'd missed my Superchunk, one of my top 5 favorite bands ever.
6. Handsome Furs - Face Control
The other half of Spencer Krug's third band Wolf Parade released his second album this year and Dan Boeckner continues to impress, maybe not as brilliantly as Spencer, but that's a high mark to match and he's doing just fine on his own. Face Control is a strong album throughout and includes a couple highlights ("Radio Kaliningrad" and "All We Want, Baby, is Everything") with nary a song that really disappoints. It's not quite as strong as his debut release (which was my 2nd favorite album of 2007), but it's quite an impressive start for the band. And, if rumors are to be believed, Dan and Spencer are back together again -- as we speak -- recording material for Wolf Parade's 3rd album, which will be released some time in 2010 (projections are for May-ish). A tour would have to follow I'd think, and that will make 2010 a truly great year in itself.
7. Modest Mouse - No One's First and You're Next (EP)
Ah, the Mouse. Another one of my top 5 favorite bands of all time in the top 7 this year (can you guess all 3?). This album is their "leftovers" release from their last two major label records, both of which didn't have the staying power of the magical early career releases, but several tracks on this album show that there's still some life left in these boys after all. "The Whale Song" is a just a pure, classic Mouse song, while "Guilty Cocker Spaniels" and "History Sticks to Your Feet" were both pleasant surprises. I'd already heard most of the rest of the songs on the album before, and while "I've Got it All(Most)" and "Satellite Skin" are solid Mouse tracks, "King Rat" and "Perpetual Motion Machine" are not, so the album wasn't quite worthy enough to make my top 5 of the year. But it's still a welcome sign that Modest Mouse still have their classic form intact.
8. Do Make Say Think - The Other Truths
Just four songs, but they total nearly 44 minutes of true musical wonder, one of the best Do Make Say Think albums ever, even if it was quietly released and offered less variety than some of their other classics. I could say that I liked "Say" and "Make" the best of the tracks, which is true, but this is an album that is perfect to just listen through all the way through, through the ebbs and flows of the rhythms, and let them wash over you, all the way through.
9. Mono - Hymn to the Immortal Wind
Mono's latest wasn't shy on the bombast and that kind of hurt them, as compared to the sometimes quiet brilliance of earlier albums, especially those tracks that specialized in loud/soft dynamics. But there's still a lot to love here -- from opener "Ashes in the Snow" through "Pure as Snow" and closer "Everlasting Light". It's not their best album by any stretch, but even a disappointing album from the band is a great album in the grand scheme of indie rock music, and it found its way into my top 10 anyway.
10. Asobi Seksu - Hush
Two Japanese bands round out my top 10, as this newer band that sings songs in both English and Japanese made a wonderful album here, one that had two of my favorite songs of the year ("Familiar Light" and "Transparence") but was really solid throughout, with nary a down note. Later in the year, they released an acoustic album called Rewolf that included stripped down versions of several songs from this release and its surprising to hear the songs work so well in that environment as well, since their tracks are usually layered with so much fuzzy noise (in a good way). Just goes to show what talented songwriters they are, in English and Japanese, and I can't wait to hear bigger and better things from them.
11. Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs
12. Saxon Shore - It Doesn't Matter
13. The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love
14. The Antlers - Hospice
15. Karen O and the Kids - Where the Wild Things Are
16. Dark Was the Night (compilation)
17. Odawas - The Blue Depths
18. Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle
19. David Bazan - Curse Your Branches
20. The Thermals - Now We Can See
My second ten includes some veteran bands with solid if not quite legendary releases (Yo La Tengo, The Decemberists), a great compilation album for AIDS charities (Dark Was the Night), and an album largely intended for kids, I think (Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack). But it also included four very quiet but truly beautiful records from artists making their debuts in my top 20 (The Antlers, Odawas, Bill Callahan, and David Bazan). And the last of those -- former Pedro the Lion leader Bazan -- has made one of the most personal and touching albums ever released, the searing Curse Your Branches, which explores his loss of faith after spending his career singing songs with largely Christian messages as Pedro the Lion. It's truly a magical album, lyric-wise, and while the entire run of songs does get a bit tedious, musically, I would definitely recommend picking it up just for the lyrics, especially the song "Harmless Sparks," which you can interpret any way you like but I interpret it as perfect.
21. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
22. Caspian - Tertia
23. Kestrels - Primary Colours
24. Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
25. SCORE! - Twenty Years of Merge Records
26. Morrissey - Years of Refusal
27. The Mountain Goats - The Life of the World to Come
28. Atlas Sound - Logos
29. Bell Orchestre - As Seen Through Windows
30. Jason Lytle - Yours Truly, the Commuter
The next ten is a much more varied group, from the experimental (Animal Collective, Atlas Sound) to the orchestral (Caspian, Bell Orchestre) to the kind-of mainstream (Neko Case). As I said in the opening, this year provided a lot of great albums and while these all had flaws, the depth of quality releases in 2009 is truly impressive. If you haven't heard Bell Orchestre's album, for instance, definitely check it out. "Elephants" and "Air Line/Land Lines" are really, really great songs.
31. Animal Collective - Fall Be Kind (EP)
32. Mum - Sing Along to Songs You Don't Know
33. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
34. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - Vs. Children
35. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - s/t
36. We Were Promised Jetpacks - These Four Walls
37. Pants Yell! - Received Pronunciation
38. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - Advance Base Battery Life
39. Mount Eerie - Wind's Poem
40. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!
There were some double-ups in this next ten, as both Animal Collective and CFTPA released a couple albums this year that made it to the charts. Mount Eerie did as well, as you'll see in my final ten, but for the most part, somewhere in this grouping are the albums that turned out to be a little more disappointing than I'd hoped for (CFTPA, Pants Yell!, and Mount Eerie) along with some newer bands that had solid but not spectacular debuts (Pains of Being Pure at Heart, We Were Promised Jetpacks).
41. M. Ward - Hold Time
42. Noah and the Whale - The First Days of Spring
43. Magnolia Electric Co. - Josephine
44. Dan Mangan - Nice, Nice, Very Nice
45. My Latest Novel - Death and Entrances
46. Fanfarlo - Reservoir
47. Jonsi & Alex - Riceboy Sleeps
48. Iron & Wine - Around the Well
49. Bat for Lashes - Two Suns
50. Mount Eerie - White Stag
And that concludes the list. There's some I'm missing that will be all over others' lists (Dirty Projectors), and there's some that just missed the cut (Sonic Youth, Conor Oberst), mostly out of disappointment. But all in all, this was another strong year for indie rock.
Impossible to argue with your number one Bill. It will be mine as well, surprise, surprise. 2 & 3 will also be in my top ten. Glad to see DMST there as well. I love that album. I can't get into Dirty Projectors either, but no Grizzly Bear? I really love Veckatimest. Great list!
Posted by: Wayne | December 15, 2009 at 03:53 PM
I agree with so many of your choices that I really wish I saw what you saw in Spencer Krug. I like Dragonslayer fine, and it may even sneak into my list, but it just doesn't speak to me that much. It's a shame because every time you write about Krug I convince myself that I must be missing something.
Love to see the Built to Spill and Balmorhea up high. And I'm ashamed to say I haven't listened to the new Superchunk so I'll have to get right on that.
Posted by: Charles | December 15, 2009 at 07:35 PM
Hey Charles, there's some stuff that everyone else likes that I never get into either. I'm not sure why that happens. Glad someone else liked the Balmorhea album as much as me.
Wayne, I'm going to have to say my bad on Veckatimest. While I didn't love it, it certainly belongs in my top 50 -- probably in the 30-40 range, and I just missed it when I was compiling the list. Sorry Grizzly Bear!
Posted by: Bill | December 16, 2009 at 01:18 PM
I know this doesn't really relate, but are we going to get a post about this blockbuster roy halladay deal?
Posted by: Tom | December 16, 2009 at 03:47 PM
I don't like the trade, or at least I'm having trouble seeing the point. It's a lateral move it seems and we've given up a lot of prospects in the process, and the Seattle prospects in return are not so great. Maybe I can post something about it soon.
Posted by: Bill | December 16, 2009 at 05:46 PM
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